Guild
Balimora is one of the six magimystic guilds. The following is the text which is presented to newly realized Balimorans:
Initiation
The following is the description of Balimora which is presented to new recruits:
A voice calls to you in the rustle of leaves. The echo in a darkened hollow. Your name is on the breath of the world. Hear it now. While others talk ceaselessly, you listen. Not to the chatter of society, or the empty rules and procedures of civilization. You have always been drawn to the wild, the untamed. The trappings of culture hold no interest for you, nor the false borders and boundaries it provides. Perhaps you hear another call: the words of the land itself. It speaks of desecration and decay, of birth and rebirth. It asks for help, and, in turn, offers it. It calls for a protector and longs to protect under its great canopy.
There are no laws. Natural rule is a lie. The world heeds a higher law. Whether you know it or not, you have been called to tend that deeper balance, The Great Chaos of the verdant world.
This land is as beautiful as it is wild and dangerous, powerful. But still, it needs caretakers, seers, sentinel— those who will take up the mantle, to cut away the blight and nurture the fragile seeds of beauty. Regardless of the ramifications to the unnatural world. You will bring shade where brightest, and light where darkest, for now you know this land has endured longer than memory and deeper than rational thought. And it will continue to endure under your care. For that is your calling. Your love for nature and awareness of a deeper, more verdant truth in the world will lead you to ancient paths of knowledge, and skills to defend it. Lay your hands in the soil and borrow powerful magic, magic that calls on the chaotic source of all magic. You will be granted gifts to destroy and to repair. Under your judgment. Free of law. Only The Great Chaos matters now.
As an agent of the land, your obligation is to seek out the patterns of decay and life reaching for the sky, feel where change is required, and take action.
Motto
“The land endures. The land, and you, are Balimora.”
Magic Affinity
- Weathermancy
- Uproot
- Faulton Fray’s Decay
- Charm and Deception
- Mend
- Bestiary Arts
Known Members:
Other Attributes
Balimora’s cardinal direction on the chronocompass is southwest, and its primal element is The Wild. Its governing time of day is the Witching Hour.
Guild Bearings
The three Bearings of Balimora are as follows:
Sun Bearing: Verdurant
Affinity: Labor of Light
Guide Description:
While others in your guild nurture the intermingling of light and dark within the Great Chaos, you are most devoted in your commitment to the beauty and wonder of the natural world and all its creatures. To life in its purest and simplest form. You are at your happiest exploring new surroundings, pushing ever further into the sun-dappled wilderness which surrounds you and that which lies waiting within you, discovering the hidden wonders of your world and beyond. You delight in the collection of cuttings and stories to bring back to your kin, regaling your loved ones each night with sprigs of scented foliage or brightly colored feathers and tales of the feats you undertook to procure them (tales which are only ever slightly embellished).
Your bright heart and vibrant nature can coax life out into the open from the most unexpected places; even the most fickle of the sun’s creations have been known to turn their heads as you pass, and creatures large and small often favor you with their auspicious gaze. Your deep and abiding connection to existence draws all life to you. If ever a friend seems overwhelmed by the inevitable harshness of nature’s cycle, it is not uncommon for you to recruit anyone willing to participate in an elaborate display of wonder, whether it be convincing the blooms to change their colors, creatures to trade their voices, or causing the entire forest to sway in time to a favorite song. Your brilliant outlook grants you a warm, inviting nature that others find both magnetic and restorative. From the smallest of seeds to the largest of towering, ancient trees in which you and your guild reside, all of life has a part to play in your quest for laughter and the lightness of heart, to counterbalance the gravity and occasional severity of the natural world. Though your effusive optimism may wear thin on others’ patience from time to time, do not doubt for a second that you are well-loved and much needed.
You are Verdurant-bearing Balimora, born to sing the praises of the sun and all her creatures, and there is no one else in this corner of the world or beyond who is quite like you.
Eclipse Bearing: Aniveus
Affinity: Inwardian Eye
Guide Description:
There is no death without life, no life without death. Even here, in the hollow of your guild where it seems no trace of harm can reach you, even here you must live by those words. You repeat them daily like a mantra, for if you did not, you would not be able to bear the truths that weigh upon your inner eye. You have seen the Great Chaos in every living thing, printed plainly on their hands and faces, roots and leaves, hides and hooves, as patterns on a petal. It calls to the Chaos within you, a likeness that is born and dies and is reborn again all the day long. Some call you a seer, and in a sense, this is true, for you see what others do not see, hear what others do not say or cannot speak. You see the truth of every living thing: its wants, its needs, its desires. To you, nothing is hidden.
It is a burden and a gift, for you may use this sight in many ways, and it is for this reason that you are more likely to be sought after than feared. You know how best to nurture life in all its forms and stages, right up until the very end, when the path out of this world is just as clear to you as the paths that lead within. You are a valuable asset to the many caretakers of your guild, for in a way, you are the most naturally inclined of them all. Some of your guild kin follow the light, while others tend in the shadows, but you in many ways are the joining of the two. The beating heart of the Great Chaos. You see the connection between light and dark, of life and death, and tend to that which need to grow unfettered or fade from all existence. Though there will be times when the call of your talents feels too taxing, your efforts too futile in the face of a nature that is relentless and unforgiving, this is why you have guild kin at your back and an army of fellow stewards to relieve your many burdens with a smile or a song.
With the strength of all living things behind you, you will never cease striving for the balance of that which is precious, of that endless cycle of chaos that lives within your very cells and takes shape in the chemical essence of the magimystic energy that is you, an Anivaeus-bearing Balimora, born of the eclipse, with all of nature’s wonder incarnate within your spirit.
Moon Bearing: Maelisorn
Affinity: Practitioner’s Cradle
Guide Description:
Here with your hands buried deep in the cool, dark earth, the ancient magimystic energy of life itself flows from the roots of all things living and into your own body. This is where you belong, beneath the canopies of trees older and wiser and more solemn than any other thing in existence, where it feels like nothing can touch you. Not the harshness of element, or man, not the trappings of society. Not even death can reach you here, for here and now you have ahead of you only new beginnings, only growth, only life.
Your duty is to bring life back into this haven of your world as the season dictates, to care for and nurture it as best you can, for you are especially intimate with the hardships that begin as soon as we take our first breath. The resplendent beauty of life is undeniable, but in your eyes, it is made even more so because of its fragility, its ephemerality. You see what most of your guild don’t care to linger on, how the shadow of the Great Chaos invariably touches every living thing, how easily we are made powerless to the unpredictability of life.
For this reason, you may be drawn to the most ancient applications of your guild’s talents: working tirelessly on your knees, with dirt and silt beneath your fingertips and caked into the creases of your palms, planting seeds and pruning back the debris of prior springs to make way for and personally ensure the boundless opportunity of the season. Or perhaps your expertise is best employed in other manifestations, in caring for creatures, or the tending of people and the cultivation of their relationships and ideas – the most vulnerable beings of all.
You are a world-shaper, a caretaker, most content when you are assured that everything is progressing as planned, growing and reaching and becoming the best iteration of itself despite the dangers and the chaos at every turn. Regardless of what may come, you will protect these sanctuaries over which you preside with everything you possess, with the particular tenacity and devotion of your guild. You have taken it upon yourself to usher life and growth in all of its forms and expressions of fulfillment into this world and protect it for as long as you possibly can, and you will continue to do so until it is time for life to gently usher you out.
There is no greater responsibility or privilege than this, and as a Maelisorn-bearing Balimora, born of the moon, you welcome your birthright with roughened palms and an open heart.